Defence of rights defenders beaten up in Ingushetia state ICRF's inaction

Andrei Sabinin, an advocate, has filed a complaint against the investigator, who is dealing with the attack on journalists and rights defenders, committed on the Chechen-Ingush border in March 2016. According to Andrei, until now, he had no chance to study the case materials.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 15 the victims' advocate said that investigators failed to identify the attackers and suspended the inquiry.

The attack has been under investigation for more than a year; however, the advocate could not "see even the least meaningful documents of the case," Mr Sabinin said. According to his story, for a long time he was not admitted to the case files.

Besides, on April 19, the advocate, according to his version, was summoned to the Investigating Department for Ingushetia of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and promised to show him the case materials in exchange for a subscription on non-disclosure.

"This happens for the first time with me in relation to the defence of victims' rights. Surely, it has to do with the fact that in February we made public the suspension of the case, after which Minister [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov had to apologize to Swedes. I think, they don't want to admit any leakage of information about the case into public space," the "Mediazona" quotes Mr Sabinin as saying.

The advocate has added that he refused to give the above subscription.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.